By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Kartika (left) with Mission's Cynthia Tellez and IMA's Eni Lestari outside the District Court |
A record $1.22 million in damages and lost earnings was awarded to Kartika Puspitasari, the Indonesian domestic helper who suffered two years of extreme abuse at the hands of her former employers in Hong Kong more than 10 years ago.
The total amount of $1,218,607 awarded to Kartika was
nearly the full claim that she lodged against spouses Tai Chi Wai and Catherine
Au Yuk-shan, who were both jailed for the horrific torture they inflicted on
the helper between October 2010 and October 2012.
In a decision written in Chinese and handed down yesterday, District Court Master
Catherine Cheng ordered Tai and Au, who did not appear during the hearing, to
pay Kartika a total of $868,607 in actual and moral damages.
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This was on top of the $350,000 that their insurance
company that covered Kartika’s employment compensation had already paid, but was deposited with Legal Aid pending the final outcome of her civil claim, making
a total of $1.218 million in damages.
The full award is just slightly less than the $1.24
million that 39-year-old Kartika had claimed through her lawyers.
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The total amount awarded to her is broken down as
follows:
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$550,000 for pain and suffering
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180,000 for aggravated injury
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$438,360 for loss of income
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$5,322 for loss of work capacity
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$1,000 for special damages
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$43,925 for future m
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However, Kartika could end up collecting far more than
this amount, as Master Cheng has ordered that the biggest chunk of the award for
her “pain and suffering,” should earn an annual interest of 2% from the date of
issue of the writ of summons to the date of judgment.
The other compensation interests will be calculated at
half of the judgment rate, that is, 1%, but from the date when the incident
occurred more than 10 years ago, to the judgment date.
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| Kartika shows one of her keloidic scars from the 2-year abuse by her employer |
In her decision, Master Cheng suggested that Kartika’s
suffering appeared more severe that that inflicted on Erwiana Sulistyaningsih,
whose case in 2015 sparked global outrage over the abuse inflicted on some migrant domestic
workers, particularly in Hong Kong.
Doctors who assessed Erwiana’s injuries gave her a
total of two years’ sick leave, whereas Kartika could have earned three years’
sick leave.
Erwiana was granted a compensation of $809,430 as a
result of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her female employer Law
Wan-tung, who has yet to pay the award, claiming bankruptcy.
Kartika, at least, could immediately claim the
$350,000 paid by the insurer, less legal fees.
Cheng cited two other infamous cases of worker abuse,
that of Faridha Sulistyouningsih, who was beaten so badly by her employer in
2005 that she suffered several broken ribs; and of Warly Achacoso, whose two
hands were scalded with a hot iron by her employer in 2001.
Kartika’s injuries were so extensive and severe that a
doctor’s report showed she had no less than 45 wounds, scars and scabs all over
her body, including inside her mouth.
The Mission for Migrant Workers, which helped Kartika
press on with her claim for the past decade, said it hoped the landmark award
may serve as an inspiration to other victims of abuse to stand up for their rights.
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“Truly, only those who fight can be victors. May this
also serve as a warning and deterrent to anyone who mistreats domestic workers
and abuses them. Domestic workers deserve fair and equal treatment and respect
in Hong Kong, as they are not slaves; they are workers and human beings,” said
the Mission.
But Eni Lestari, chair of the International Migrant
Alliance, which also stood by Kartika in her legal battle, said Hong Kong must
do more to speed up the administration of justice.
Lestari said her group is worried that the long wait
to get a claim resolved would deter migrant workers from filing a case, while
employers would use this as a tool to oppress other workers.
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| Kartika recalls her ordeal at a press conference in October last year |
Tai, now 51, was
sentenced to three years and three months in prison on Sept 18, 2013, after
being convicted of two counts of wounding Kartika, using his fists on one
occasion, and a bicycle chain on the other.
Au, now 50,
who inflicted most of the injuries on the helper, was jailed for five and a
half years on six charges of wounding and assault occasioning bodily harm. Au
was found to have tortured the maid with a hot iron, a paper cutter, bicycle
chains, a hanger and shoe.
Despite
these, a Labour Tribunal court largely dismissed Kartika’s claim totaling
$117,272 for unpaid wages, annual leave and severance pay, and awarded her only
about $5,000 in back wages.
She returned
to Indonesia in 2014, virtually penniless.
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Luckily, the Mission’s general manager Cynthia Tellez
managed to locate Kartika in Indonesia during a visit, and encouraged her to
file a civil claim.
Back in Hong Kong in October last year to testify in
court for her claim, Kartika, who is married and has three children, recalled
at a press conference her traumatic ordeal at the hands of her employers.
Kartika spoke of how her former employers had thrown
away her clothes, passport, work contract and HKID card three months after she
arrived in Hong Kong to work for them, which prevented her from running away.
Tai and Au then started beating her up regularly with
practically everything they could lay their hands on, from bicycle chain locks
to clothes hangers and a hot iron. They even tied her to a chair in the kitchen
at night, or whenever they would leave the house.
Kartika also said she was fed only three times a week
with leftover congee from the hospital where her Au worked, and was allowed to
bathe only once or twice a week – and only in public toilets.
One of the severest beatings she received was when Au
slashed her with a cutter all over her body after she refused the employer’s
order to cut her hair.
For the remaining two years that she was in their
employ, Kartika was not paid a salary nor was allowed to leave the house, which
made her family back in Indonesia think that she had already died.
She got her chance to escape in
October 2012 after the couple left their Tai Po home, and she managed to untie
the ropes that bound her to a chair in the toilet, then asked people on the
street for help.
Kartika said the beatings left her
so traumatized that she had recurring nightmares long after she had gone home
to Indonesia.
She also mentioned being “very
tired” from having waited so long to secure justice.
Kartika said she planned to use the money
she would get as settlement to get rid of some slightly scars on her ear, arm and
belly, and to get professional counseling. She also wanted to set up a small
business and set aside money for her children’s future needs.
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